Taylor, Zachary

Life Span
to
Full name
Zachary Taylor
Place of Birth
Birth Date Certainty
Exact
Death Date Certainty
Exact
Gender
Male
Race
White
Origins
Slave State
No. of Spouses
1
No. of Children
6
Family
Richard Taylor (father), Sarah Strother (mother), Margaret Mackall Smith (wife, 1810), Richard Taylor (son)
Occupation
Politician
Military
Farmer or Planter
Relation to Slavery
Slaveholder
Church or Religious Denomination
Episcopalian
Political Parties
Whig
Government
President
Taylor Administration (1849-50)
Military
US military (Pre-Civil War)

Zachary Taylor (American National Biography)

Scholarship
As president, Taylor put national above sectional interests, usually made wise decisions, and always acted decisively. Because he tried to understand and deal fairly with both sections, he has often been described quite inaccurately as pronorthern. If Taylor had lived, he would probably have been reelected, and the course of American history might have been different. He has been a much underrated man and president.
Elbert B. Smith, "Taylor, Zachary," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00978.html.

Zachary Taylor, Election of 1848 (American National Biography)

Scholarship
In December 1847 a group of Whig congressmen, including both Abraham Lincoln and Alexander H. Stephens, organized a "Taylor for President Club" and ignited a national movement.

Besieged with questions, Taylor wrote revealing letters. He disliked political parties, he would spend no money, and he would become president only as a result of a "spontaneous move of the people." Slavery, he wrote, had been abolished in Mexico and could not be revived in the newly acquired territories. He owned many slaves, but he would respect the feelings and legal rights of the nonslaveholding states. The "intemperate zeal" of northern fanatics and southern politicians was making reasonable discussions impossible. The unnecessary and dangerous Wilmot Proviso against slavery in the new territories would shake the country. He still hoped, however, that compromises could be reached. Congress was responsible for legislation, and a president should veto laws only if they were clearly unconstitutional.
Elbert B. Smith, "Taylor, Zachary," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00978.html.
Chicago Style Entry Link
Bauer, K. Jack. Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest. Southern Biography Series. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1985. view record
Castel, Albert. "Old Rough and Ready's Battle at Buena Vista." American History Illustrated 17, no. 6 (1982): 20-29. view record
Castel, Albert. "Zachary Taylor." American History Illustrated 5, no. 3 (1970): 4-11, 43-48. view record
Graebner, Norman A. "1848: Southern Politics at the Crossroads." Historian 25, no. 1 (1963): 14-35. view record
Howard, Oliver Otis. General Taylor. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1892. view record
Jackson, Jack. "General Taylor's ‘Astonishing’ Map of Northeastern Mexico." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 101, no. 2 (1997): 142-173. view record
Lynch, William O. "Zachary Taylor as President." Journal of Southern History 4, no. 3 (1938): 279-294. view record
Montgomery, Henry. The Life of Major General Zachary Taylor. Buffalo, NY: Derby & Hewson Publishers, 1847. view record
Nichols, Edward J. Zach Taylor's Little Army. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963. view record
Stegmaier, Mark J. “Zachary Taylor Versus The South.” Civil War History 33, no. 3 (1987): 219-241. view record
Steins, Richard. Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, and Buchanan. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Corp., 1997.  view record
Stoddard, William Osborn. The Lives of the Presidents: Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. New York: F. A. Stokes & Brother, 1888. view record
Thonhoff, Robert H. "Taylor's Trail in Texas." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 70, no. 1 (1966): 7-22. view record
Viola, Herman J. "Zachary Taylor and the Indiana Volunteers." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 72, no. 3 (1969): 335-346. view record
Wise, W. Harvey, and John W. Cronin. A Bibliography of Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. Washington, DC: Riverford Pub. Co, 1935. view record
How to Cite This Page: "Taylor, Zachary," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/12341.